There’s never a pause in the rush of BREAKING NEWS these days, so I’m just gonna start posting good links irregardless. From the New York Times, “The star of the documentary “RBG” has embraced her popularity as another tool in her effort to help women advance”:
WASHINGTON — No one knew when, or even how or where, Ruth Bader Ginsburg would pop up. The Supreme Court justice was due at a screening here of “RBG,” a new documentary chronicling her exemplary life. But she was not tied to the night’s tightly scripted schedule — at some point she would just appear, “like a ninja,” an organizer said.
Gathered in a theater at the Naval Heritage Center, the crowd was amped. There were lawmakers (progressive Democrats and a smattering of conservatives); the justice’s family, friends and former law clerks; her colleague Justice Stephen Breyer; and self-described fan girls and boys…
When the justice arrived, bodyguards encircling her, the audience gave her a standing ovation, then hushed until she claimed her seat. She wore her hair pulled back with one of her beloved scrunchies, in navy velvet; a maroon tweedy blazer; slate-blue belled slacks; jewelry in just about every possible place jewelry can go; and carried her own large handbag. In front of her, arms shot up for the stealth selfie-with-a-famous-person snap. She didn’t mind.
Justice Ginsburg is an unlikely celebrity but then again, we live in an age full of those. What makes her ascendance to pop culture icon — the Notorious RBG, y’all — truly surprising is that, at 85, she is having fun with her unexpected fame, and making careful and inspired use of it for her own savvy ends.
“Ruth was so far ahead of her time that she was alone for decades,” Gloria Steinem wrote in an email, listing the ways her friend and feminist compatriot of nearly half a century has been at the forefront of cultural shifts. “Ruth acted on the intertwining of racism and sexism long before it was called intersectionality. And she was principled in her own field,” the law, even though, as a woman, she was not initially welcome in its highest ranks…
Theodore B. Olson, the conservative lawyer and a longtime friend of Justice Ginsburg (he also argued Bush v. Gore, representing George W. Bush, in front of her), has seen her evolve into an idol.“She knows the fact that she’s doing this, and embracing it, means so much to young women — because she’s teaching, every time she gives a speech or talks to people,” he said after the screening. “And that’s what this movie will do too. So she knows how valuable it is.”
Mr. Olson calls her a warrior. Ms. Steinem, in the documentary, calls her a superhero. (Marvel agrees: in “Deadpool 2,” when the title character is assembling his X Force, he flicks through a photo of her as a candidate.)
For Julie Cohen and Betsy West, the directors of “RBG,” she was, first off, a hard-to-wrangle subject. Each had interviewed her for other projects, but when they approached her about the documentary she told them she wouldn’t talk to them for at least two years. She was 82 at the time.
They persisted, interviewing colleagues and clients for whom she did landmark work. Eventually they were granted an audience with her, trailing along on family vacations, to the opera, and on a visit with her granddaughter, a recent Harvard Law graduate who calls her Bubbie. In her chambers, Justice Ginsburg traced her path from law school, where the dean asked her and the eight other female students (in a class of about 500) how they could justify taking the place of a man. Though she made the law review and graduated at the top of her class at Columbia, no firm would hire her, a Jewish woman and already a mother; she became a professor instead. If she felt any frustration at being shortchanged professionally, it didn’t erupt. “Reacting in anger or annoyance will not advance one’s ability to persuade,” she wrote in her 2016 autobiography, “My Own Words.”…
Felanius Kootea
My husband and I loved the documentary and were surprised at just how packed the theater was (the Landmark in LA). Maybe we shouldn’t have been surprised, it is LA.
Brachiator
@Felanius Kootea:
That is so good to hear. I’ve heard great things about the movie and am happy that it’s finding an audience.
It’s on my list as soon as it’s available for streaming.
BC in Illinois
Go see the movie. It’s well worth it.
It turns out she had accomplished a lifetime of important, ground-breaking work even before she was appointed to the SC. If you already knew that, good for you. But then you will enjoy the personal and family story even more.
The movie is probably only going to show up on one or two screens in your town. (Two in St. Louis.) It’s worth looking for. (Four stars out of four.)
Dorothy Winsor
OT but NK claims Trump agreed to end sanctions. Surely this is unlikely.
Dorothy Winsor
@BC in Illinois: That movie is not going to show at all in Waterloo IA or for 100 miles around. Iowa City, maybe.
SiubhanDuinne
Grrrrrrrrrr.
japa21
@Dorothy Winsor: Noted this at bottom of last thread. No mention of need to denuclearize to have sanctions lifted, just to have relations approve. And not unlikely Trump said that. Of course, now he has to come out and deny it, but he didn’t take notes or have anyone there that would take notes, so he can’t prove anything.
burnspbesq
@Dorothy Winsor:
Actually, it’s all too likely that Trump gave away the candy store and got nothing in return.
jacy
News needs to stop breaking. Firehouse of stupid 24/7. I keep waiting for somebody to hand out the glasses that let the rubes see the monsters for what they actually are.
jl
@Dorothy Winsor: I don’t think anything is ‘sure’ with Trump. Trump may have no clue what was said, or if it was said, what it meant, in any case. If there was a drunk asleep behind the curtains, might as well ask that guy what was ‘said’.
We know if things do not develop necessarily to his advantage, Trump said in public that he’d go ‘Aw screw it, guess it didn’t work out, too bad, huh?’.
I was hoping these things would roll out gradually, closer to midterms. But, whatever.
TS (the original)
@Dorothy Winsor:
Who knows what trump says – he decides as he says it – and refuses to let the media hear.
Edit: Or what japa said above
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Dorothy Winsor: I can see trump, mediocre real estate hustler, responding to a question or suggestion he didn’t understand with, “We can certainly do that, we can take a look at that” and thinking it didn’t matter cause it wasn’t in the final closing contract
jacy
@Dorothy Winsor:
Oh, I’m sure he agreed to end sanctions when he was alone with Kim. He’ll just deny it. Hell, he probably doesn’t remember it.
Trump it the amoeba president — no thought, only reacts to immediate stimuli. Feed it, it stays complacent and consumes. Hurt it, it maneuvers anyway it can to get away from that stimuli. There really is no more than that.
Brachiator
@Dorothy Winsor:
Wow. It doesn’t matter. North Korea is trolling the shit out of Trump.
What’s he gonna do? Ignore them or contradict them?
This makes it even easier for North Korea to back out of the weak stuff Trump and his people laid down.
What a dope.
jl
Hell, if Trump was promising a deluxe beach (Trump branded?) condo deal for North Korea, who can blame them if they thought sanctions were off.
I guess Trump can threaten to sue and bury those losers in court costs?
@Brachiator: If Putin is a pattern, Trump will try to ignore it, and find an ally to yell at in public. Which ally has Trump not chewed out yet?
dmsilev
@jacy: Or maybe he didn’t agree to that but the North Koreans are betting that he can’t remember one way or the other…
Viva BrisVegas
@Dorothy Winsor:
It’s fair to assume that NK are the only ones with a recording of the conversation between Trump and Kim, so they’d be the only ones in a position to know (or pretend to know).
Trump will now have no idea of what was said. Kim will have to play back the recordings to him during some of their late night chats to remind him.
Brachiator
More breaking news
I think that Justice G would be proud to see who has honor and who does not.
Elizabelle
@jacy: I’ve been telling our local classic movie house that it is beyond time for them to begin screening John Carpenter’s “They Live”. Think director called it his “existential scream at living in the Reagan era.” Now more timely than ever.
Be fun to see a John Carpenter series, with “They Live” in heavy rotation. It would be a fab midnight movie (this theatre does not do many midnight movies, but would seem there’s a market for them …)
Brachiator
@jl:
He may have to hire somebody.
Mike in NC
@Dorothy Winsor: Trump would happily agree to lift sanctions on North Korea and Russia provided he could impose them instead on Canada, UK, France, Japan and all those other moochers and haters who treat him unfairly.
jk
@jacy:
He’s an enormous waste of protoplasm. Once you get past the obnoxious, insufferable bravado, this guy is a bloated empty suit. He has no core convictions or beliefs beyond the desire to enrich himself and bask in the ceremonial pomp and circumstance of the office.
jl
@Brachiator: Luxembourg is as about as low energy as you can get. Trump can chew out Luxembourg.
jl
@jk:
” Trump is the amoeba president ”
Naegleria fowleri. We need to find a cure!
Bobby Thomson
@dmsilev: when Trump has a reputation for lying his ass off and no one to corroborate his story, they can have him saying literally anything.
dmsilev
@Bobby Thomson: Yep. And it’s not like Trump did something sensible like have a note-taker present.
Brickley Paiste
If Ms. Ginsburg survives until a democrat assumes the presidency )which may or may not be in 2021 or 2025( then she will be rightly regarded as a hero.
Should she die before then, she will have set the rights of blacks, gays, women, latinx, and Americans in general, back at least one-half century.
I guess she likes to gamble.
Gin & Tonic
@Brickley Paiste: Well hello, nym I’ve never seen before, and thank you for sharing your views.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@jl:
Have you been eating cowpies again?
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Brickley Paiste:
Another swing and a miss. Your other “hot takes” have been similarly insipid.
jacy
@Brachiator:
I fully expect Kim to eventually diss Trump and blow this thing up. He got what he wanted. And it’s hard to keep the populace in line without a boogeyman. The US is the boogeyman.
Mnemosyne
@Brickley Paiste:
I was wondering what ARGB’s new nym was going to be after he got chased off the last time. How ya been, gun-hugger? You’ve been trotting out all of your greatest hits this week.
MobiusKlein
@Brickley Paiste:
Step 1: Take Senate in 2018
Step 2: suck on this, McConnell.
Step 3: win presidential race on 2020
Omnes Omnibus
@Brickley Paiste: ARBG! We missed you. Or something.
jacy
@Elizabelle:
Hell, every day is a John Carpenter film festival. If you think about it, his movies are all an expression of the moment we’re in right now.
(John Carpenter is my favorite living director, but I’d prefer not to be living his movies.)
SiubhanDuinne
@Brickley Paiste:
I remember your message (which makes as little sense now as it did then, and is mean-spirited to boot), but the trollnym is new, and I can’t recall your earlier incarnations.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I hadn’t heard about that, that’s great.
@Gin & Tonic: he’s been posting under that nym for a few weeks, but I suspect it’s an old friend come out from under his bridge.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
Kay down below mentioned that Mueller’s office is saying that Russian intelligence is likely going to interfere again in the mid-term election.
My question is this: will Russia encounter diminishing returns on their strategies eventually?
WaterGirl
@Gin & Tonic: Exactly what I was going to say!
SiubhanDuinne
@Mnemosyne:
@Omnes Omnibus:
Of course, ARBG! How silly of me not to remember!
Mnemosyne
@Omnes Omnibus:
The seething, irrational hate for RBG is hard to mistake, isn’t it? She didn’t retire 10 years ago, so therefore anything that happens at any point after her eventual death sometime in the indeterminate future will be all her fault!!1!1!!1
Omnes Omnibus
@SiubhanDuinne: To be fair, Mnem got there first.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mnemosyne: She’s a chick with power.
jacy
@Mnemosyne:
You’ll appreciate this — the ex has been sending me aggressive communiques in advance of our meeting with Nick’s counselor tomorrow. Trying to rile me up so I come in hot. So I stood out in the yard and screamed for a while to get it all out of my system. I’ll be cool as a cucumber tomorrow, which will just piss him off more.
Raoul
@SiubhanDuinne: Wow. I just tried typing that word, and my spellcheck let it slide. Grrrrrrr.
Now, if I type irregardlessly, it gives the ugly red underline. That one drove my dad nuts when I’d say that as a retort to his cringing and cursing over my (now long abandoned) use of the shorter version.
cain
@Viva BrisVegas:
During their hot nights on manboy on dictator phone sex?
rikyrah
@jacy:
Good luck with the jerk?
Handle that toad
SiubhanDuinne
@Omnes Omnibus:
Yes, and I linked Mnem in my comment to acknowledge that fact.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@cain:
I have images running through my mind because of what you just typed. I’m this close to pieing you for that :p
Brickley Paiste
@SiubhanDuinne:
Its undeniable by any sentient being not having their head stuck up their ass that democrats suck at playing the clock. Judicial appointments spike during republican administrations precisely because republican-appointed judges time their retirements to insure republican-appointed replacements. That’s reality.
She had an outstanding career. She could have retired with a couple of years left in Obama’s administration and we would now have a solidly liberal-centrist justice instead of far, far right Gorsuch. He’s done far more longterm damage to this country than Trump.
That’s what reality is – it doesn’t matter whether or not you accept it.
Mnemosyne
@jacy:
Of course he has. He’s a narcissist. He can’t resist.
I know he’s driving you bonkers, and he’s probably only going to get worse over the next four years, but never forget that he’s doing it because he knows that, four years from now, he loses all control over you and your kids. Permanently. So don’t give him the satisfaction of knowing that he got to you.
And, random thought — is there some kind of after-school or weekend performing arts program you can enroll your kid in? Maybe a local theater group? That way, even if the worst happens, he’s still getting some experience.
marcopolo
I’ll be taking my 85 year young mom to see this in the next few days. Her favorite Xmas present this past year was the RBG Workout Book I got her. I will also be checking out the Mr. Rogers documentary which I think starts next week. Trying to get a group of my 50 something friends to go as we all, of course, grew up watching him.
PS Okay, who wants to tell me what I did that is making my nym the same size as Donald Trump’s hands. I mean WTF?
Brachiator
Damn. I may have to go see the movie again just to catch that scene.
And I need a comedy to distract me from this farce called Trump.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@cain: Hope Sean’s not the jealous type.
ETA: @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: Does this relate to one of them? I prefer cheesecake to pie.
japa21
@Brickley Paiste: Abd just how would her retiring have prevented Gorsuch? Such a silly boy (or girl).
Omnes Omnibus
@Brickley Paiste: You can’t even get the facts right. What does Gorsuch have to do with RGB? And thanks for confirming your ID.
marcopolo
@Brickley Paiste: Any undeniably sentient being who doesn’t have their head up their ass would know that Gorsuch replaced Scalia. RBG staying or going ain’t have no effect on that. Oh, and in case you don’t know–Scalia died unexpectedly–good for him and fuck you. Oh and fuck McConnell too (holdover thought from previous thread).
Mnemosyne
As everyone probably knows by now, I am a huge fan of the Oregon Zoo in part because their social media game is stellar. Among other things, they have a new web series called “Tiny Goat Visits” where they take two baby goats on walks around the zoo and introduce them to other zoo animals.
This is on topic because the goats are named Ruth (Bader Ginsberg) and Sonia (Sotomayor). ??
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Brickley Paiste:
I think you meant “she”, but your’re wrong either way. What makes you think McConnell would have let that “liberal-centrist” judge be confirmed? When was RBG supposed to retire? Before the 2014 midterms when the GOP got control of the Senate?
And what are you personally doing to make sure that everyone’s rights are going to be protected instead of obsessively focusing on RBG for some reason instead of being pissed off at Kennedy?
stinger
@marcopolo: My nym always displays at the top of my comment in a smaller font than the comment — and than other people’s nyms. At least, it does so on my screen. Hopefully it looks normal to everybody else. Yours does, to me.
SiubhanDuinne
@Eating Paiste:
It’s horribly disobliging of Justice Ginsberg to arrange the timing of her career decisions in a way that most upsets you. You should probably send her a tweet and share your views. All caps would likely be an asset.
jacy
@Mnemosyne:
I’m going to shortcut him and offer him Catholic school in BR. Since his stated argument is he doesn’t want his child in public school. Then his fig leaf will be gone and we’ll see what happens. He has never once accepted any sort of compromise, so when he turns this down, I’ll have that to take to trial. Even though they ruled against me last time, the judge gave him a dressing down for being a whiny, self-pitying boob. So there’s that.
edited to add: we have joint custody, but he’s pulled some shit behind my back that I’ve written down but never hit him for. I’ve saved it all for a rainy day. Even bought judges don’t like it when parents don’t follow the orders.
marcopolo
@stinger: Oddly enough, now my nym appears to be in normal font size. No doubt some weird wordpress thing combined with the fact that I am an apostate who uses the safari browser.
Edit: Or what SiubhanDuinne said in the comment following this. Though I do like my theory as it allows me to feel picked upon.
SiubhanDuinne
@stinger:
It does that until (a) the edit window has timed out and (b) you refresh the page. Then it should show up normally-sized.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
No, yours is tasteful and hilarious. And I prefer cheesecake myself.
Hannity: “But Donny, I thought what we had was special?!”
Trump: “Sorry Sean, but your hair looks too much like its made of wood.”
Mnemosyne
@jacy:
Because I sometimes Google things based on what we talk about here, there apparently is a top-rated Catholic boys’ high school in Baton Rouge. It had a really simple name, something like Catholic Academy of Baton Rouge.
If you do end up having to take his ass to court, make sure you get the ratings of the respective schools so you can show the judge that you prefer the top-rated one and then let the ex defend his crappy choice.
jacy
@jacy:
Oh, and weirdly enough THe Boyfriend’s ex-wife’s companion is a local drummer who’s very well known in BR. He’s going to tutor Nick on drums when he’s here and teach him some songs, and next time they play a place where minors are allowed, he’s going to let Nick play with the band. Like dandelions in the sidewalk, we keep poking through.
stinger
@SiubhanDuinne: I never *noticed* that – thanks! Seemed like just one weird trick.
jacy
@Mnemosyne:
Oh, I’m a girl who is always prepared with research. In the last two days I have produced a notebook with every detail for 7 prospective schools in the area. The school I want is rated #4 in the state. The school he wants is rated #44.
I also have every possible argument and case law for outcomes that are similar to what I want. Now I just need a lawyer! Hopefully by next week. The Boyfriend is talking to the lawyer who handled his divorce to see if she’ll take me on a payment plan. He says she’s a bulldog.
Mnemosyne
@jacy:
You are a good mom if you’re willing to let your son be a drummer. ?
SiubhanDuinne
@Mnemosyne:
Those kids are adorable. Baby goats never fail to make me laugh. Loved the encounter with the porcupine!
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Mnemosyne:
Yeah, he might lose an arm!
marcopolo
So wish Kay was around to comment on this but a new poll out of Ohio has both Cordray (Gov) and Brown (Sen) leading their R opponents. From an article in the Cincy Enquirer (that you have to answer a question to read):
…
Hope they both crush it in November though it looks like the results might be a little skewed by an unusually high number of undecided R voters.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
another tweet says the seat’s been Republican for 40 years
SiubhanDuinne
@stinger:
It doesn’t seem (to me) to serve any function or purpose. Used to drive me nuts and make me think I had broken the internet — again!! — but I finally realised it was just a WP/BJ quirk, and now I don’t even notice.
SiubhanDuinne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
YAY!
SiubhanDuinne
@marcopolo:
More YAY!!
Omnes Omnibus
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Wait. I thought WI was now written off as a red state?
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@marcopolo:
From Ohio. This is great news! No doubt Our Revolution will cast aspersions on Cordray (not so much Brown) for the large numbers of undecided Rs (neoliberal!11!).
I’m not deeply involved in state and local politics like Kay is so I can’t comment like she would. But I’m happy considering the state has been under complete GOP control at the state level for nearly a decade. I hope that state leg will eventually be able to be flipped too, but that will far harder.
Kasich signed a bill that prevents localities from raising the minimum wage above the state’s, so I’d love to see that change.
marcopolo
@SiubhanDuinne: I, of course, take all of these polls with heaps of salt since we are still so far out from the midterms but if in January you had told me that by early June only one of the ten Dem senate incumbents in a tough competitive 2018 race would be underwater versus two of the three Rep senate incumbents I would have asked for some of what you were smoking. But, yes, that is where the races are supposedly at atm.
jacy
@marcopolo: I think there is an undetected blue wave out there = new voters and lazy
voters who are pissed off. Maybe wishful thinking, but I take what cheer i find.
J R in WV
@Brickley Paiste:
We all gamble that we’re going to wakeup tomorrow and continue to do the stuff that is important to us. RB Ginsburg is just like the rest of us.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@jacy:
I think so too. All we can do is keep working and take nothing for granted. Make as many as the races as possible blowouts to minimize ratfucking.
jacy
Damn i hate typing on my tablet. I’ m too old and need a keyboard. Oh well, seroque l and the season finale of Legion, then sleep. Nite all.
Mnemosyne
@SiubhanDuinne:
The elephant one is good, too. You can follow them on Facebook or see the videos on their YouTube page.
I’ve always wanted to take the Amtrak Coast Starlight on an overnight trip, but now I’m thinking of stopping in Portland instead of Seattle so I can visit that zoo. And Powell’s Books.
marcopolo
@jacy: I consider myself part of that wave–though I have always voted in every freaking election. I’ve been doing GOTV postcards with my Indivisible group since the Jones senate election in AL–tens of thousands now, and we’ve flipped two state seats here in MO in 2018, including the one last Tuesday outside of KC. But as hopeful as I’ve been about flipping the House, I have always thought we’d lose a seat or two or three in the Senate. Maybe not. I’d love to be as ecstatic the morning after the election this November as I was depressed the morning after Nov 9, 2016.
marcopolo
@Mnemosyne: Gawd. Powell’s Books. What a place. I’d need a day just for that. So sad that I haven’t been to Portland in a couple decades. It is missed. That and Saturday market in Eugene.
Mnemosyne
@jacy:
Did you see MaryG’s comment earlier today? In Texas, so many volunteers from MomsDemand showed up for a gun violence hearing that the NRA’s lobbyist got stuck into the overflow room.
And then MomsDemand filled up that overflow room and they had to start a second one.
To expand on what someone else said earlier, when the Blue Wave comes, it will be wearing sensible shoes and have some extra snacks in its purse in case anyone gets hungry. And the MSM will be shocked, because no one was paying attention to the middle-aged and older women of all colors who are working their asses off right now. ?
ETA: Men can join the wave as well, but they may have to put on dad jeans to fit in.
Aleta
@Mnemosyne: Just watched that one! I like the idea, showing how the goats look at something they’ve never seen before. Love the zoo women too. Just sent those two videos to a couple of sisters, 13 and 7. The 7 yo especially seems facinated by animal behavior, understanding their signals.
jacy
@Mnemosyne: meme on the book of faces the other day: never pick a fight with a woman over 40. They are full of rage and sick of your shit.
TriassicSands
@SiubhanDuinne:
Agreed. Not even in jest.
Mnemosyne
@marcopolo:
I haven’t been up there since a road trip 20 years ago, so I’m curious. We’ll have to see how my knee surgery goes.